NXT
Date: June 28, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph

It’s the go home show for the Great American Bash and that means it is time for the big push towards the show. Most of the card is already set, including the NXT Title match main event, so we should be in for a good one. Odds are we get a little more from Legado del Fantasma and the D’Angelo Family, even if the Family is now down a member. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Katana Chance/Kayden Carter vs. Roxanne Perez/Cora Jade

The winners get a Tag Team Title shot next week. Cora and Carter start things off with a lockup until Jade grabs a wristlock. That’s broken up and Jade is sent into the corner, setting off a chop exchange. Chance comes in and rolls Jade down, allowing her to get in a smiling pose. Perez comes in to roll Chance up for two before working on the armbar. It’s off to Carter for some forearms to the chest and two of her own.

Everything breaks down and Perez clears the ring, only to have Carter cut off the dive. Perez gets sent outside and we take a break. Back with Chance getting two on Perez, who fights up and brings Jade back in. Jade runs Carter over for two before handing it back to Perez. Carter kicks her down without much trouble and but Jade breaks up the 450/neckbreaker combination. Pop Rox finishes Chance at 13:47.

Rating: C+. It might not have been a classic but this set up next week’s title match as well as it needed to. Both teams are starting to gel and while the division is still little more than three teams, it is nice to have someone fighting over a chance at the titles. Chance and Carter still don’t get to the belts, and the longer they wait, the less sure I am that they are going to.

Joe Gacy and the Dyad invades Diamond Mine practice and gives them a sales pitch. That isn’t happening, but a six man tag is on for tonight.

Toxic Attraction isn’t sweating Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade next week. Mandy Rose isn’t worried either so here is Nikkita Lyons saying she’s coming for the title.

Giovanni Vinci vs. Ikemen Jiro

Vinci works on the arm to start but Jiro pops up. The jacket punches are shrugged off and Vinci snaps off a German suplex, followed by one heck of a chop. More jacket punches don’t work as Vinci hits a heck of a springboard tornado DDT, prompting some HOLY CENSORED chants. The sitout Last Ride finishes Jiro at 2:59. Vinci’s offense looks good, and if he moves on from the low level opponents soon, he could be just fine.

Post match, Vinci says the Great American Bash isn’t happening without him.

We look at Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen winning the vacant NXT UK Tag Team Titles last week.

Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams are happy with getting the title back. Grayson Waller comes up and gets some stuff signed, which certainly doesn’t seem nefarious.

Here are Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen with Fallon Henley. They’re very happy with the title win but when Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter (the former champions who had to vacate the titles due to Smith’s injury) are ready to go, their shot is waiting on them. Jensen thanks Briggs for believing in him, but now it’s time to drink some beer. Cue Pretty Deadly to cut them off though because they don’t like their British titles being spoiled by Americans. Threats are made and the fight is on, with the champs clearing the ring without much trouble.

Video on Bron Breakker.

Kayden Carter and Katana Chance rant about their loss and don’t like people staring at them.

Indi Hartwell vs. Kiana James

They lock up to start with Hartwell having to fight out of a wristlock. Some armdrags have Hartwell in control and the armbar has James down. That’s broken up and James drives in a shoulder into the ribs in the corner. A bodyscissors doesn’t last long as Hartwell fights up with some shots to the face. Pretty Savage misses though and James grabs a rollup (with quite the stretch to get a foot on the rope) for the pin at 3:53.

Rating: C-. Pretty quite and to the point match here as Hartwell can’t quite get anything going while James gets a win, especially with cheating. Not exactly a great match, but NXT seems to be working on rebuilding the women’s division and James could be part of that. Now just go somewhere with her and build on that potential.

Tony D’Angelo seems to have murdered Two Dimes by having him thrown into a river. Then Santos Escobar calls to laugh at D’Angelo for not winning the North American Title last week, so D’Angelo throws his phone into the river too.

Wes Lee is ready for Trick Williams next week.

Joe Gacy/Dyad vs. Diamond Mine

Gacy headlocks Strong to start but Strong is back with a chinlock. With that broken up, Dy comes in and gets taken into an armbar, allowing the tag off to Brutus. Dy is dropped and Julius comes in to suplex Brutus onto him. That’s enough for Dy to be sent outside for a pep talk from Gacy. Back in and Dy takes Julius down and puts on the chinlock before handing it off to Ad.

The front facelock has Julius in trouble but he powers up into a suplex. Triple suplexes have Diamond Mine in control and we take a break. Back with Gacy getting two on Brutus before handing it back to Ad. Gacy does a handstand in the corner and then hits a release Rock Bottom for two.

A neckbreaker drops Brutus again but he gets out of the chinlock without much trouble. Brutus gets over and brings Julius back in to clean house, or at least until Strong tags himself in. Strong and Julius argue, leaving Brutus to break up Gacy’s handspring elbow. Dy and Ad trade places and it’s the double elevated DDT to finish Strong at 13:58.

Rating: C. It is kind of astounding to see how uninteresting and boring Gacy and company are every time they are on this show. Now we are probably going to have to see more of them too because the Dyad is probably getting a title shot. The Creeds are starting to mesh that much better, but enough of Gacy being all culty.

Post match the rest of Diamond Mine yells at Roderick Strong.

Trick Williams is ready for Wes Lee, but Carmelo Hayes doesn’t know anything about a title defense against Grayson Waller. Remember him signing things earlier tonight? One of them was a contract. Ok that was kind of clever.

Lash legend cuts off a medical update on Alba Fyre and says Fyre is on the shelf permanently.

Sanga and Xyon Quinn get in a fight before their scheduled match.

Roderick Strong yells at Diamond Mine for not listening to him. The result: Strong/Damon Kemp vs. the Creeds next week.

Xyon Quinn vs. Sanga

It’s a brawl to start with Quinn hitting a boot to the face. Sanga runs him over with a shoulder and a clothesline sends Quinn outside. Back in and Sanga drops him onto the turnbuckle and then does it again for a bonus. Quinn fights back and knocks him into a sleeper, which is broken up with a ram into the corner. Sanga hits a clothesline, setting up a chokeslam for the pin at 5:09.

Rating: C. Sanga wasn’t anything as Grayson Waller’s bodyguard but he has become something a bit more interesting during this singles run. He is a big guy with a unique look who can do a basic enough power match. Build him up and let someone take him out down the line, then have him do whatever. That’s a fine enough idea, even if it meant Quinn had to lose here again. I’ve given up on him, but that doesn’t make it easier.

Video on Cameron Grimes getting his NXT Title shot against Bron Breakker next week.

We see another Wendy Choo dream, this time looking at her tormenting Tiffany Stratton over the last few weeks. Then she wakes up and goes to brush her teeth, where we hear her thoughts telling herself that she is NOT stupid. Then she looks at the camera and says she’ll beat Stratton next week.

Nikkita Lyons vs. Mandy Rose

Non-title and the rest of Toxic Attraction is here too. Lyons powers her around to start and hits a running splash in the corner. Rose gets sent outside in a heap and we take an early break. Back with Rose hammering away and working on the recently injured knee. Lyons gets in some shots of her own but a choke is broken up. A running clothesline drops Rose though and a release German suplex gives Lyons two. Rose comes back with a shot to the face and a missile dropkick, only to miss the running knee. That’s enough for Toxic Attraction to come in for the DQ at 8:58.

Rating: C-. This was another good example of Lyons not working so well in a longer match. She punches a lot but doesn’t seem to have much in the way of in-depth offense. I get why WWE wants to push her, but there is a pretty firm limit on how far she seems likely to go at the moment. Odds are she’ll get the title sooner than later though and that shouldn’t be a surprise.

Post match the beatdown is on until Cora jade and Roxanne Perez make the save.

Solo Sikoa rants to Apollo Crews about his loss to Grayson Waller last week. Xyon Quinn comes in and has a chat with Crews about potential. Crews doesn’t see much for Quinn’s future.

JD McDonagh is coming.

Great American Bash rundown.

Wade Barrett brings out Cameron Grimes and Bron Breakker for a chat. Breakker tells Barrett that they have this so the two of them can talk about how Grimes has nothing to lose. Grimes says that it’s another title defense for Breakker and if he loses, he’s off to Raw and Smackdown. If he loses, he’s probably on Summerslam. Grimes is betting everything he has on beating Breakker and that’s what makes them different.

That’s because Grimes doesn’t have a backup plan, which is similar to Breakker, because THIS is his backup plan. Breakker wanted to be in the NFL but since that didn’t work, he called his famous daddy and got into WWE. That doesn’t work for Breakker, who promises to send grimes to the moon and then spear him in half. Grimes isn’t impressed and promises to keep getting up.

Breakker promises to keep spearing him down so Grimes can need Ted DiBiase to tell him what to do again. Grimes mentions Rick Steiner again and the fight is on, with Breakker missing a hard charge into the corner. Grimes sends him into it again and the turnbuckle breaks. Breakker’s arm is hurt, with Grimes looking concerned, only to switch to being happy to end the show. Grimes going borderline evil without going over the line is good, though it’s still hard to believe that he has any kind of a chance against Breakker next week.

Overall Rating: C. This wasn’t exactly a thrilling show but it did enough of a good job of pushing towards the Bash that it worked out. There are still some very bad parts of the show, including anything Gacy related, but they do seem to be trying to push some different people. The Bash looks good on paper and certainly has some big matches, but NXT might need a bigger change of pace in the next few weeks and I don’t know if that is going to be coming.

Results
Roxanne Perez/Cora Jade b. Kayden Carter/Katana Chance – Pop Rox to Chance
Giovanni Vinci b. Ikemen Jiro – Sitout Last Ride
Kiana James b. Indi Hartwell – Rollup with foot on the rope
Joe Gacy/Dyad b. Diamond Mine – Double elevated DDT to Strong
Sanga b. Xyon Quinn – Chokeslam
Nikkita Lyons b. Mandy Rose via DQ when Toxic Attraction interfered

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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NXT
Date: June 7, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph

We’re fresh off In Your House and the show came with a few changes. The North American and Tag Team Titles changed hands so there is some fresh blood in the gold scene around here. This week’s features the finals of the Women’s Breakout Tournament as Tiffany Stratton faces Roxanne Perez. Let’s get to it.

Here is In Your House if you need a recap.

We open with a match by match recap of In Your House.

Here is new North American Champion Carmelo Hayes, with Trick Williams, for a chat. Hayes is really happy to have the title back and gives Cameron Grimes credit for a tough fight on Saturday. He brags about his greatness, but here is Solo Sikoa to interrupt. Sikoa says he has next, but Hayes says that deal was with Grimes, not the new champ. Now it’s Grayson Waller to interrupt, saying it doesn’t matter who Sikoa’s family is because no one cares or likes him. The brawl is on, with Sikoa being taken down by some triple teaming.

Video on Josh Briggs/Brooks Jensen vs. Von Wagner.

Legado del Fantasma is now Tony D’Angelo and company’s chauffeur/various lackeys. Happiness does not ensue.

Josh Briggs vs. Von Wagner

Fallon Henley, Brooks Jensen, Sophia Cromwell and Mr. Stone are all here too. Briggs slugs away fast to start but Wagner gets in a few shots in the corner. The arm cranking is broken up though and it’s Briggs kicking him in the chest. They fight to the floor, where Wagner gets in a shot to Jensen’s bad hand. Henley gets up for a distraction so Jensen throws Briggs the cast for a shot. That and Briggs’ lariat is enough to finish Wagner at 3:04.

Rating: C-. Standard big man match here with the interference making the difference. If this means slowing Wagner down a bit, I’m all for it though, as he has been the most generic of the monster villains that you can find. Briggs and Jensen aren’t exactly great, but they’re more interesting than Wagner could hope to be.

Solo Sikoa wants Carmelo Hayes and Grayson Waller tonight, whether he has a partner or not.

Thea Hail gets a scholarship to Chase U. Pretty Deadly comes in to mock them, so Bodie Hayward says we could have them get in on a picture to add some star power. Go get the Tag Team Titles…..which Pretty Deadly lost so never mind.

Nathan Frazer vs. Santos Escobar

This is on Tony D’Angelo’s orders so D’Angelo sits in on commentary. Escobar takes him to the mat to start and then does it again for a bonus. D’Angelo declares that boring so do something else. Frazer is back up with a running hurricanrana and Escobar is angry in the corner. Back up and Escobar sends him outside for the suicide dive, though D’Angelo doesn’t approve.

We take a break and come back with Frazer still in trouble as Escobar grabs a Boston crab. With that broken up, Frazer gets in a shot of his own and a standing shooting star press. The jumping superkick drops Frazer again but one of Escobar’s goons slides in a crowbar. That doesn’t work for Escobar, who throws it back, only to get kicked in the head. Frazer’s phoenix splash is good for the pin at 11:52.

Rating: C. You can feel the Seth Rollins influence on Frazer and I’m not sure I would consider that a compliment. The Escobar story isn’t exactly great either, but at least it is getting him some serious sympathy from the crowd. Escobar isn’t likely to go anywhere on the main roster, so a nice push around here is about all he can hope for at the moment.

Xyon Quinn doesn’t like Nathan Frazer or Wes Lee, who stole a win from him last week. That’s why he’s going to crush Lee next week in their rematch.

Here is still NXT Champion Bron Breakker for a chat. Breakker talks about how he overcame the challenges of Joe Gacy and did it for NXT, because this place is special. He knows everyone wants a shot, so come get a shot. Cue Apollo Crews, with the crowd being VERY happy to see him. Crews has dropped the accent and Nigerian royalty stuff and is just himself, and is here for as long as he wants to be. He praises Breakker and is very happy to be back here, because there are things he wants to do here. Crews says he’ll see Breakker down the road and they shake hands. I can go for more of this Crews.

Video on Roxanne Perez vs. Tiffany Stratton in the Women’s Breakout Tournament final.

Joe Gacy talks to his minions about how there are people who need guidance. That was the case with the two of them, who needed someone to show them the way. They are the dyad and they can continue to be an extension of him when they compete for the first time next week.

Women’s Breakout Tournament Finals: Tiffany Stratton vs. Roxanne Perez

Perez grabs a headlock to start but doesn’t go anywhere with it. Instead, Stratton takes her to the mat for some arm, and finger, cranking to keep control. Back up and Perez armdrags her way out of a slam attempt but gets dropped arm first on top as we take a break. Back with Stratton still on the arm, including moonsaulting onto it for two.

The handspring elbow in the corner drops Perez for two more but she’s back with a middle rope Thesz press for two. Stratton is sent outside for the suicide dive and a Russian legsweep gives Perez two. A sitout powerbomb gives Stratton two more but Perez is right back with Pop Rox for the pin out of nowhere at 12:21.

Rating: C+. Rather nice effort from both of them here in a case where either would have been a fine pick. Perez feels like an actual prodigy though and it is nice to see her getting the biggest win of her career so far. Stratton’s gimmick and athleticism will carry her a long way so she’s going to be fine. Good stuff here with Perez being the slightly better choice for the win.

Since Perez now gets a title shot of her choice, here is Toxic Attraction to interrupt. Mandy Rose says enjoy the moment, because it’s all downhill from here. If Perez cashes in on her, it will go very badly so the fight is on. Cue Indi Hartwell to even things up and Toxic Attraction is cleared out.

Bodhi Hayward has been attacked and says Pretty Deadly did it.

Tiffany Stratton interrupts Wendy Choo’s interview so Choo throws her drink in Stratton’s face.

Pretty Deadly vs. Andre Chase

Chase storms to the ring for the sake of revenge but gets sent into the corner to cut that off. The double teaming is on so here is the injured Bodhi Hayward, only to have Thea Hail cut him off. Hail gets on the apron to offer a tag, allowing Chase to make a comeback. That’s cut off quickly and it’s Spilled Milk to give Deadly the pin at 3:11.

Rating: C-. Hail’s deal aside, this was little more than a handicap match with Chase fighting hard but coming up short because of the numbers game. The good thing is that it might mean more Chase, and that is always a positive. He has taken this completely ridiculous gimmick to levels no one would have thought possible and is one of the highlights of the show. Give me more of him, maybe even in a more important role.

Tony D’Angelo and company try to intimidate Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams, who isn’t interested. Hayes wants some more respect on his name too.

Alba Fyre vs. Tatum Paxley

Fyre grabs the arm to start but gets flipped over so Paxley can put on an armbar of her own. Paxley rolls her up for some near falls and sits down on a sunset flip attempt for two more. Fyre knees her in the face for two of her own and the Gory Bomb plants Paxley. Fyre goes up top for a Swanton so Paxley rolls away before she can launch, but after a shrug, Fyre hits a Swanton anyway for the pin at 2:41.

Post match Lash Legend jumps Fyre, because YOU WILL CARE ABOUT LASH LEGEND.

Malik Blade and Edris Enofe come up to the Creed Brothers and issue the challenge. The Creeds are down but Roderick Strong comes in to yell about how that’s a mistake champions don’t make. That is the one thing they can get wrong.

Giovanni Vinci is here next week and we see his face, confirming that it is in fact the former Fabian Aichner.

Carmelo Hayes/Grayson Waller vs. Solo Sikoa

Trick Williams is here with Hayes and Waller, but hold on because Sikoa has a partner.

Carmelo Hayes/Grayson Waller vs. Solo Sikoa/Apollo Crews

I would have bet on it being Cameron Grimes so well done on the surprise. The fight is on before the bell with the villains being cleared out. Back in and it’s Sikoa vs. Waller to start with the latter being sent into the corner. Crews comes in for a delayed suplex (Barrett: “PUT HIM DOWN WILL YOU???”) and it’s time to work on the arm. Hayes comes in from behind though and catches Crews with a spinning faceplant to take over. Back up and everything breaks down, with Crews hitting a slingshot dive to the floor as we take a break.

We come back with Sikoa in trouble and Waller stomping away. The top rope elbow gives Waller two and the Crossface makes things even worse for Sikoa. A rope is grabbed for the break and Sikoa gets over to Crews for the hot tag. House is cleaned as everything breaks down, with Crews hitting the toss powerbomb to finish Waller at 13:42.

Rating: C+. This was a standard main event tag match formula and it worked out as well as can be expected. What mattered here was getting Crews back into the mix and he filled in just fine, which is always a good sign. It isn’t like Crews was doing anything on the main roster, so why bother leaving him up there to do nothing at all?

Overall Rating: C+. They kept some momentum going here after In Your House and that is more than I would have expected. It is nice to see NXT actually going somewhere and if they can keep it up, that makes it all the better. The action was the usual hit and miss, but what mattered here was a feeling that we are moving on to some new stuff. Crews was a rather nice surprise and again, if he isn’t doing anything else, why leave him on the main roster? Pretty good show here, and I’ll take what I can get from NXT.

Results
Josh Briggs b. Von Wagner – Lariat
Nathan Frazer b. Santos Escobar – Phoenix splash
Roxanne Perez b. Tiffany Stratton – Pop Rox
Pretty Deadly b. Andre Chase – Spilled Milk
Alba Fyre b. Tatum Paxley – Swanton
Solo Sikoa/Apollo Crews b. Grayson Waller/Carmelo Hayes

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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AND

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NXT In Your House 2022
Date: June 4, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph

We’re back with another special show as NXT gets in on another WWE pay per view weekend. This time around they’re dusting off another classic with In Your House, which has very little to do with what we’ll be seeing. The card is fairly short but there are five titles being defended, making it pretty stacked at the same time. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is based on the old In Your House intros, complete with Todd Pettingill (ah the memories) doing the voiceover to run down the card. Joe Gacy gets to come through the house’s door and lights a poster on fire.

Legado del Fantasma vs. Tony D’Angelo/Stacks/Two Dimes

The losing team has to join the winners. During Legado’s entrance, the referee finds a crowbar, which seems to have been planted by D’Angelo and company. We also get a video with Tony Gallante narrating about how this is about controlling the streets and imposing their will. Wilde and Two Dimes start things off with neither being able to get very far.

Wilde sends him into the ropes to pick up the pace before handing it off to Escobar vs. D’Angelo. Everything breaks down early (that’s well received) and we settle down to Two Dimes getting caught in the corner for a running kick to the face. Del Toro loads up a springboard but gets shoved out to the floor for the crash. Back in and Stacks gets to stomp away, with D’Angelo getting to do the same. A suplex gives D’Angelo two and Stacks grabs the chinlock with a knee in the back.

That’s broken up and del Toro is able to bring in Escobar to clean house. Everything breaks down and del Toro/Wilde hit stereo springboard dives to the floor. Escobar loads up a super hurricanrana but Stacks makes the save to send him crashing to the mat. Wilde comes back in for the running kick to the face/Russian legsweep on Two Dimes with Stacks making the save. The six way slugout is on but D’Angelo’s crowbar is knocked away. Wilde crowbars Stacks but D’Angelo gets in a brass knuckles shot to knock Wilde silly. Stacks, out on his feet, is shoved onto Wilde for the pin at 13:28.

Rating: B-. The fans were more into this than I was but it was a hot enough opener. If nothing else, it should take away some of the focus on the turf war stuff, which has only been so good so far. Either way, this was a good way to get the show going as a six man usually is. The ending worked too, as Stacks was out cold and then got the pin anyway, which is at least a different way to go.

Reality sets in fast for Escobar and he isn’t happy.

Alba Fyre video.

A bunch of the women are watching the Alba Fyre video and Lash Legend is really not impressed.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Katana Chance/Kayden Carter vs. Toxic Attraction

Toxic Attraction, who arrive in a car in the back, is defending but it’s Jayne getting taken into the corner for some early kicks to the ribs. Dolin comes in off a blind tag though and the choking is on in the corner. Chance fights out of a chinlock and something like Private Party’s Silly String takes Dolin down for a change. The hot tag brings in Carter to clean house but Jayne gets in a shot from behind to take her down.

That doesn’t last long as Chance comes back in with a superkick before super hurricanranaing Jayne onto Dolin for two. Everything breaks down and the champs go high/low on Chance, with Carter shoving Doling into the cover for the break. The 450/neckbreaker combination gets two on Dolin with Jayne making the save this time. Jayne gets in a cheap shot on Carter, who is knocked into a half and half suplex from Dolin to retain the titles at 9:00.

Rating: C. The match was about what you would expect from these four, which is to say a match that was only so good. NXT still doesn’t need Women’s Tag Team Titles and now that Toxic Attraction has beaten Carter and Chance, I’m not sure who else there is to go after the belts. Must be time to set up another team who suddenly gets a title shot.

Pretty Deadly sing about beating the Creed Brothers tonight.

North American Title: Cameron Grimes vs. Carmelo Hayes

Hayes, with Trick Williams, is challenging. Feeling out process to start until Grimes grabs a backslide for two, giving us a standoff. The threat of the Cave In sends Hayes into the corner so Grimes kicks him down for two. A high crossbody gives Grimes the same but Hayes trips him onto the apron to take over.

Back in and Hayes takes him into the corner before suplexing him back out for two of his own. Hayes argues with the referee long enough that Williams can tie Grimes’ wrist to the middle rope. That lasts all of three seconds before a tilt-a-whirl faceplant drops Grimes for two more. A hurricanrana out of the corner gives Grimes a breather and he plants Hayes for two of his own. Grimes superkicks him for two more, with Hayes grabbing the rope this time.

Back up and the flipping powerslam gives Grimes another two so it’s time to load up the Cave In. That is broken up (as Grimes wasn’t even running) with a kick to the head but Grimes hits a poisonrana. Grimes’ running flip dive takes down Williams and Hayes on the floor. Back in and Williams offers a distraction, allowing Hayes to drop Grimes face first onto the buckle. The top rope ax kick gives Hayes the title back at 15:28.

Rating: B. I was a bit surprised by the ending here and it doesn’t bode well for Grimes’ future. Unless he is given a surprise NXT Title chase, I don’t see him having much else to do around NXT. The accent and country/southern boy thing isn’t going to work on the main roster, where he would probably be Hillbilly Jim Jr. Maybe he gets into the Hayes vs. Solo Sikoa stuff but other than that, I’m worried about his future. Good match here, which shouldn’t be any kind of a surprise as they’re both incredibly smooth out there, making this the likely match of the night.

Joe Gacy is ready to take care of the present and future by winning the NXT Title. Maniacal laughter ensues.

We recap Wendy Choo vs. Mandy Rose for the Women’s Title. Rose is tired of being told that she doesn’t deserve to be the champion and now she is ready to keep the title from someone as ridiculous as Choo.

Women’s Title: Wendy Choo vs. Mandy Rose

Choo is defending and we get a dream sequence (just go with it) of her spraying Toxic Attraction with water guns and then winning the title. We get the Big Match Intros, allowing Choo to shoot a slingshot at Rose. That earns Choo a beating in the corner but she fights right back out. Choo misses a running elbow though and a snap suplex gives Rose two. The bodyscissors goes on for a bit, followed by a reverse t-bone suplex for two on Choo. The abdominal stretch is broken up and Choo grabs a rollup for two.

Some strikes and a clothesline put Rose down and Choo knocks her to the floor. Rose manages a spinebuster on the floor for a nine count, followed by a spinebuster for two back inside. We now pause for Rose to tear up Choo’s pillow, which annoys Choo so much that she hits a dropkick to start the angry comeback. Choo unzips her track suit to reveal a Toxic Attraction shirt before grabbing the sleeper. Rose makes it over to the rope so Choo goes up, only to get slammed back down. The running knee retains the title at 11:04.

Rating: C. Choo is far easier to watch in the ring, where she does enough to have a passable match. Other than that though, it is a little hard to care about much of anything that she has going on. Rose continues to win and unlike her stablemates, there is quite a list of people who can come for the title. Not an awful match, but the less of Choo outside the ring is an improvement.

Roxanne Perez and Tiffany Stratton are both ready for the Women’s Breakout Tournament final, though Stratton thinks the interviewer is the WORST PERSON EVER for thinking Perez might win.

Quick video on the Creed Brothers, showing a time line of their lives and success.

Tag Team Titles: Pretty Deadly vs. Creed Brothers

Pretty Deadly is defending and if the Creeds lose, they’re out of Diamond Mine. Brutus powers Wilson around to start and wrestles him down a few times with little trouble. Back up and Wilson manages to get him into the corner for the tag to Prince, who is wrestled down as well. Everything breaks down and stereo German suplexes drop the champs again.

A stretch muffler to Prince and an ankle lock to Wilson have them in more trouble but both are escaped before it gets too bad. Back in and Prince runs Julius over before Julius clips him on a leapfrog attempt. An armdrag into an armbar has Prince in trouble but he slips out as well. Wilson comes back in and gets kneed in the ribs over and over for his efforts. Everything breaks down and the Creeds throw the champs around, including slamming Wilson off the top.

Julius goes out after them and is quickly Rock Bottomed onto the steps to put him in trouble for the first time. Back in and the armbar goes on Julius, setting up a Boston crab to stay on the back (and send a message to Roderick Strong at the same time) even more. Julius powers up and knocks Prince down, allowing the tag off to Brutus.

House is cleaned, including Brutus’ top rope elbow to a standing Prince for two. Hold on though as Julius teases using a title (as slid in by Prince), only to look at his dad in the crowd. Julius throws the title down and instead Brutus slams Wilson, setting up a shooting star press. The sliding forearm gives the Creeds the pin and the titles at 15:07.

Rating: B-. This wasn’t so much a surprise as much as it was the end of a countout to the Creeds winning the titles. Pretty Deadly never felt like the long term champions and that is not a bad thing. What matters the most is having the right team as the champions and that is what we now have. I don’t know what that means for the Diamond Mine, but the Creeds fighting up to win the titles in the end, as they should have, worked well.

The Great American Bash is on July 5.

We recap Bron Breakker vs. Joe Gacy for the NXT Title. Breakker defeated him to retain the title but Gacy has gone supervillain and tried to make him snap. This gives Gacy a rematch, and if Breakker gets disqualified, he loses the title.

NXT Title: Joe Gacy vs. Bron Breakker

Gacy, with minions, is challenging and if Breakker is disqualified, he loses the title. Breakker goes right at him to start but has to pull back from going too nuts. Gacy is knocked outside so Breakker grabs a chair to help him with the minions, allowing Gacy to post him. Back in and Gacy runs him over again, setting up the chinlock to keep Breakker in trouble.

Gacy sends him face first into the buckle and then drops Breakker onto the rope for two. Brakker fights up again but this time gets pulled into a chinlock with a bodyscissors. With that not working, Gacy goes up top but gets knocked out to the floor. That’s ok with Gacy, who comes right back to set up another chinlock. That’s broken up as well and Breakker starts the comeback, including sending Gacy to the floor.

That means the big flip dive so here is one of the minions on the apron. Gacy grabs a chair and hits the mat before throwing it to Gacy ala Eddie Guerrero. Cue another referee to say not so fast, meaning the match continues, with Breakker knocking Gacy off the apron and through the announcers’ table.

Back in and the Steiner Bulldog gets two on Gacy so Breakker grabs the chair. That doesn’t happen either as Breakker hands it away, allowing Gacy to hit him low. A rollup gives Gacy two so Breakker grabs the chair again…but hits one of the minions instead. The spear cuts Gacy down and the gorilla press powerslam retains Breakker’s title at 15:45.

Rating: C. They had me thinking they might change the title once near the end, but other than that this was Breakker surviving the limited offense that Gacy threw at him and retaining. It wasn’t awful, but it also didn’t feel like a big main event. Instead, it came off like they had no one else to put with Breakker so they just did the same thing again. This should be it for Gacy in the main event scene, but I’m sure he’ll have someone else to annoy soon enough.

Replays and posing wraps us up.

Overall Rating: C+. The show was pretty good for the most part with nothing bad, but to say this is a downgrade from the almost always incredible Takeover series would be the understatement of the year. There is nothing on here that you really need to see and it felt like an extended version of the TV show rather than anything special. What matters here is having a show that felt bigger though and they did manage to make that happen. Now just find something more interesting to do.

Results
Tony D’Angelo/Stacks/Two Dimes b. Legado del Fantasma – Brass knuckles to Wilde
Toxic Attraction b. Kayden Carter/Katana Chance – Half nelson suplex to Dolin
Carmelo Hayes b. Cameron Grimes – Top rope ax kick
Mandy Rose b. Wendy Choo – Running knee
Creed Brothers b. Pretty Deadly – Sliding forearm to Wilson
Bron Breakker b. Joe Gacy – Gorilla press powerslam

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This is the kind of show that NXT needs every now and then and thankfully they haven’t gone too nuts and done them every month. At some point you need to have a big, special show and this time around you have a fairly stacked show. Granted the main event might not be the most exciting, but at least the show is taking place. Let’s get to it.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Toxic Attraction(c) vs. Katana Chance/Kayden Carter

This is one of those matches that is made a bit more interesting by the fact that Toxic Attraction has lost the titles before. As a result, it means that another loss is not out of the question, which opens up some doors. Granted I don’t know how wide those doors are, but at least there is an option. Toxic Attraction has held the titles longer than anyone in history, with their reigns lasting all but three days since late October. That’s quite the target and that should be a good thing here.

I’ll go with Chance/Carter to win here, as they are one of the only women’s teams in all of NXT. Someone has to take the titles from Toxic Attraction and they have held the things long enough. Let Chance and Carter finally win the things so they can start what should be a path to the main roster. There is enough talent there to make it work and I could go for the title change here, as it is fairly overdue.

Tony D’Angelo/Stack/Two Dimes vs. Legado del Fantasma

The turf war continues and this time the losers have to join the winners’ team. That makes for some…possibilities, though I’m not sure I would call them interesting. This story hasn’t been for me, but maybe the match can work out well enough. If nothing else, Santos Escobar should be good enough to carry a lot of the load and I’m sure there will be some shenanigans going on.

I don’t see any reason for Legado to win here so we’ll go with D’Angelo and company wiping them out. After spending what feels like years doing the same thing, there isn’t much of a point in keeping Legado around. Odds are the big united team doesn’t last long, but for now that is the direction they go. D’Angelo is in an interesting spot as they seem to want to push him, but the character is so over the top that it is hard to see how far it could go. It’s good enough to win here though.

Tag Team Titles: Pretty Deadly(c) vs. Creed Brothers

I know I might be in the minority but I still like Pretty Deadly. They’re the perfectly annoying champions that you want to see get hit in the face and have their titles taken away but they manage to squeak by. That is a team that can work in a lot of spots and they are working well enough here. The problem this time though is that the Creed Brothers need to actually win the things at some point and I’m not sure if they do here or not.

While there is a possibility that the Creeds lose the title due to some shenanigans and get thrown out of Diamond Mine as a result, I think they go another way. I’ll go with the Creeds winning the titles here and walking out on Diamond Mine as a result, as it gives them the best of both worlds. The Creeds are at the point where they have to win at some point or none of what they do matters so let them win here and get one up on Roderick Strong for a bonus.

Women’s Title: Mandy Rose(c) vs. Wendy Choo

I’ll continue to be the one who can’t have any fun and whatever other negative things can be said, but I cannot bring myself to like Choo. It’s too much with the goofy and the annoying and the costume and everything else. That SIGN THE CONTRACT bit from NXT was more than I could handle and I can’t manage to want to see her win the title. Choo is a talented person and what she is having to do isn’t her fault but I can’t go with it.

As a result, I’ll take Rose to retain, which might be due to the sake of false hope. Rose has held the title for about seven months now and has to lose it to someone, but I don’t think I could handle her losing it to Choo. The problem is, I’m not sure who else can take it from him, but I’ll go with Rose keeping the title here, if nothing else for the sake of my own sanity.

North American Title: Cameron Grimes(c) vs. Carmelo Hayes

Now this is the one that has me interested, as Grimes can work well with anyone and Hayes is about as smooth as you can get in an NXT ring. These two and Solo Sikoa have turned out to be one of the better things going at the moment and I could go with seeing more of any combination of them. Grimes has to beat Hayes at some point if he wants to be an established champion though and now he has his chance.

While I think there is a chance that Hayes takes the title here, I’ll take Grimes to retain here, if nothing else for the sake of continuing to build him up. Hayes is someone who could go a long way, while Grimes’ future is a bit harder to pin down because of how over the top he is. What matters is that there is a good chance this steals the show and I’m wanting to see how it goes.

NXT Title: Bron Breakker(c) vs. Joe Gacy

Please let this be it. This has been one of the most WWE feuds that I can remember in a long time, as it wasn’t an interesting idea in the first place and then they kept going with it over and over, which has turned it into a total mess. Breakker has hit an absolute wall with this story and the thing just won’t end, as Gacy now has minions. The last thing I want to see is more Gacy, which has me scared of how this is going to go.

I’ll say Breakker retains here, but that might be the false hope talking. I have no desire to see this match and I don’t care about the whole deal with Breakker’s anger, but this feud has already dragged on beyond Breakker winning, making me wonder why it’s still here. Just get this over with already, as long as Breakker retains because I can’t take more of Gacy doing anything.

Overall Thoughts

This show really doesn’t sound very interesting and I’m not sure how much I want to see it. There is the chance for multiple title changes, but what matters most is that NXT is having the show. They need to get out there and feel like a bigger deal at some point and that is what they are doing here. Now just don’t do anything stupid here and let things move on towards whatever is next around this place and we should be fine.

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NXT
Date: May 31, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett

It’s the go home show for In Your House and that means we are ready for the final push towards the show. Most of the card is set but there is always the chance that we will be seeing another match added this week. The main event is Nathan Frazer vs. Cameron Grimes, which should be a good one. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Diamond Mine is coming to the ring but Roderick Strong tells the Creeds that they have the night off.

Diamond Mine vs. Pretty Deadly

Non-title and it’s Strong and Damon Kemp for Diamond Mine. Prince takes Strong into the corner to start and whips him into it again for good measure. Wilson comes in and gets kicked down so Kemp comes in, sending Wilson bailing into the corner. A slap to the face wakes Kemp up and he explodes on Prince, including a bunch of suplexes into a chinlock. It’s back to Strong, who again gets stomped down in the corner, allowing Wilson to forearm away. Strong manages to get over to Kemp though and it’s a slingshot spear to cut Wilson down. Everything breaks down and Diamond Mine clears the ring as we take a break.

Back with Wilson chinlocking Kemp, which stays on a bit longer than you might expect. Kemp finally fights up and powers over to Strong for the house cleaning. Pretty Deadly is sent into each other as the fans are behind Strong again. Everything breaks down and Prince grabs a title belt. Cue the Creeds for the save but Julius takes the shot for Strong. The distraction lets Spilled Milk finish Strong at 13:17.

Rating: C+. That ending is going to cause even more issues with the Diamond Mine, which seems to be living on borrowed time as it is. The Creeds continue to be the good guys while Strong has had all of the power go to his head, which isn’t going to be the best combination. The Creeds very well could take the titles on Saturday and that should make for a rather nice moment, assuming Strong doesn’t cost them somehow.

Solo Sikoa wants Cameron Grimes to take care of Carmelo Hayes at In Your House because he has the next title shot. Grimes agrees but Duke Hudson comes in to say he should get the shot. Hudson says he doesn’t expect Sikoa to understand this because he isn’t on that level. The match is set for tonight.

Grayson Waller yelled at some wrestlers, telling them to learn from Tiffany Stratton, who is so much better than Roxanne Perez. On top of that, she’s better than Fallon Henley. Josh Briggs comes up and says he’ll give Waller a country whipping tonight.

Earlier today, Tony D’Angelo and company met Legado del Fantasma on Santos Escobar’s yacht for their usual face to face bickering. The result this time: a six man at In Your House.

Cora Jade vs. Elektra Lopez

Jade snapmares her down into a basement dropkick for a fast one. Lopez isn’t having that and faceplants her down, setting up some choking on the rope. The fans get in Cora’s corner but she misses a knee in the corner and gets her leg chopped down. Lopez tries to take her up but gets knocked back down. The top rope backsplash gives Jade the (possibly upset) win at 5:04.

Rating: C-. Lopez is still in a weird spot as she seems like she could be a star but has never broken out of the same spot she has been in for a long time. Jade is rather talented but needs a good bit more seasoning. The return of NXT live events could do her a lot of good as she needs the ring time more than anything else. The match wasn’t exactly great, but I’m glad Jade is getting somewhere.

Wes Lee is ready to face Xyon Quinn because he has to keep fighting. Sanga comes in to give Lee a pep talk, saying he may not be a giant, but he has a giant heart. It’s nice to have a different kind of giant for once.

Video on Roxanne Perez, who has been growing up wanting to be here. While her friends were watching Stranger Things, she was watching Raw and Smackdown to be like Paige, Michelle McCool and Nikki Bella. She would take a ten hour bus ride one way to train with Booker T. No one got it but Cora Jade because she was doing the same thing. Tiffany Stratton is stronger than her, but Stratton doesn’t have the same desire.

Wes Lee vs. Xyon Quinn

Lee kicks him down but gets dropped ribs first onto the top rope to cut him off. Quinn takes it into the corner for some shoulders to the ribs to stay on a target. Back up and Lee manages a kick to the head but the middle rope moonsault press is pulled out of the air. A lawn dart sends Lee into the corner so Quinn loads up the running punch, only to get rolled up for the fast pin at 3:41.

Rating: C. I could go with more of Quinn but it’s nice to see Lee get a win after a few losses in a row. He’s a talented guy who got put into a bad situation so it’s refreshing to see him still getting a chance. Even if it doesn’t go anywhere, it’s still better than the Forgotten Sons mess, which was rather pathetic even by WWE standards.

Roderick Strong yells at Diamond Mine but Ivy Nile explains what happened because Strong can’t watch a tape. Strong doesn’t really care and says he should have been hit with the belt because it would have been a DQ win. What matters most is getting all the wins, so the Creeds better win the Tag Team Titles or they’re off the team.

Joe Gacy talks about Rick Steiner not being there to do much for Bron Breakker, who would fight with his brothers while Rick wouldn’t do anything. That made Breakker angry, which he used in football and now in wrestling. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, so Breakker will let his anger get the better of him at In Your House.

Bron Breakker isn’t going to let Joe Gacy get the better of him. Gacy’s laughter is heard and Breakker wants to fight, but he stops himself from breaking a TV.

It’s time for a women’s champions summit between Toxic Attraction and Wendy Choo/Katana Chance/Kacy Catanzaro with Wade Barrett hosting. The challengers don’t want Toxic Attraction to talk but the champs need to brag about what they’ve done and who they’ve run off. Choo: “JUST SIGN THE CONTRACT!” Barrett tries to calm them down but there are most scripted lines to get in, including Wizard of Oz Munchkin jokes.

Choo: “JUST SIGN THE CONTRACT!” Mandy Rose goes on a rant about how Choo, in a cow suit, belongs in Candyland. “OR WONDERLAND!” Rose wants more respect on her name and finally signs. Then Choo fires a spit ball at her and the fight is on, with Choo putting Rose through a table. This was one of the most annoying segments I have heard in a long time.

Ivy Nile is working out when Kiana James comes in to ask if Nile is going to be talking to the Creeds after they lose to Pretty Deadly. Nile says they’ll win, but James gives the Creeds a 12% chance. Nile slams her against a locker.

Solo Sikoa vs. Duke Hudson

Sikoa strikes away to start and knocks Hudson to the apron, only to have Hudson grab a slingshot German suplex. There’s an overhead belly to belly and another makes it worse. Sikoa fights back up with a Samoan drop and the running hip attack in the corner. The Superfly Splash finishes Hudson at 4:43.

Rating: C. Sikoa winning is the right move here as Hudson can talk his way back to whatever low spot he has. You can see the star power in Sikoa though and he certainly has the family skills included. Let him get a nice push and see where he can go, because the potential is right there.

Tiffany Stratton is glad that she fixed a problem last week. She doesn’t care that she took Nikkita Lyons’ spot because Lyons wasn’t going to win anyway. Stratton has all kinds of accomplishments anyway and works harder than anyone else. Oh and Roxanne Perez took a bus ten hours to train? Has she never heard of an AIRPLANE? Stratton is over everyone liking Perez so much. This was how you present an annoying brat.

Thea Hail has graduated high school and will be attending…..ANDRE CHASE UNIVERSITY! Ok point for a good payoff.

Grayson Waller vs. Josh Briggs

Brooks Jensen and Fallon Henley are here too, but Waller says the horse face needs to leave. Waller: “And take Henley with you!” Briggs starts fast and knocks Waller into the ropes, which is enough for him to come out with a cheap shot. Waller side kicks his way out of the corner for two as we hear that Jensen has a firm grip on his recovery. Briggs gets in another shot of his own but here are Sofia Cromwell and Mr. Stone for a distraction. The rolling Stunner finishes the distracted Briggs at 3:43.

Rating: C. They didn’t have much time here but they got the story in that they needed. Waller picks up a win while Briggs vs. Stone and company continues. I still think Jensen turns on Briggs in exchange for Cromwell, even if that might not be the most PG NXT story. It would be a bit of a shame too as the country boys are a fine midcard team.

Post match Von Wagner comes in to go after Briggs and sends him shoulder first into the post. Jensen makes the save and Wagner is held back.

Ivy Nile vs. Kiana James

James takes her into the corner and gets shoved right back down. Some forearms annoy Nile but James manages to knock her back. Back up and Nile fires off some kicks, including a running one in the corner for two. James actually takes her down again and says it’s brains over brawn. Nile’s quick dragon sleeper attempt is broken up and James clotheslines her down. Nile clotheslines her much harder though and the kicks to the chest make it worse. A throw finishes James at 3:32.

Rating: C+. Very nice performance from James here, who wasn’t going to win but made the most of her time in there. She beat up Nile for a good chunk of the match in by far her most impressive outing to date. Nile seems primed to be the next big thing in NXT though and that could be starting any day now.

Post match here is Pretty Deadly to go after Nile but the Creeds make the save.

We get another Giovanni Vinci video, with the woman’s voice confirming that it is a he, who likes to drive fast cars and eat good food.

Cameron Grimes vs. Nathan Frazer

Non-title and Trick Williams/Carmelo Hayes are on commentary. Feeling out process to start and it’s an early standoff with both of them nipping up. They run the ropes until Frazer dropkicks him to the floor, only to be elbowed into the corner. A dropkick has Grimes in trouble and we take a break.

Back with Grimes hitting a swinging Rock Bottom for two and the slugout is on. Neither can get the better of it so Grimes goes with a clothesline to take over instead. Grimes’ powerbomb is countered into a hurricanrana but he suplexes Frazer out of the corner, setting up the Cave In for the pin at 10:06.

Rating: B-. This was the best match on the show and it did its thing perfectly well. You had the champ picking up a win and Frazer getting to hang in there against a bigger star. That’s how a main event like this is supposed to go and Grimes is even more ready for Hayes than he was before. The talent is there in NXT and this was another nice showcase.

Post match Hayes comes in to jump Grimes but has to be saved from the Cave In. Glaring ensues to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. Pretty good show this week, as they focused on In Your House and made me want to see the show that much more than I did coming in. Other than the summit, nothing was really bad and even the worst match was watchable. They had some storyline advancement to go with completely acceptable wrestling and that is about all you can ask for around here. Nice show.

Results
Pretty Deadly b. Diamond Mine – Spilled Milk to Strong
Cora Jade b. Elektra Lopez – Top rope backsplash
Wes Lee b. Xyon Quinn – Rollup
Solo Sikoa b. Duke Hudson – Superfly Splash
Grayson Waller b. Josh Briggs – Rolling Stunner
Ivy Nile b. Kiana James – Throw
Cameron Grimes b. Nathan Frazer – Cave In

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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NXT
Date: May 17, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph

We’re officially on the road to In Your House and that means more of Joe Gacy vs. Bron Breakker because of course it does. Other than that we have more of the women’s Breakout Tournament, which at least started out somewhat ok. Tonight we have more first round matches so let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening recap.

Carmelo Hayes/Trick Williams vs. Solo Sikoa/Cameron Grimes

Before the match, Hayes and Williams promise to take the North American Title back at In Your House. Grimes kicks Hayes in the face to start and Sikoa drops a backsplash on Williams to start fast. Williams is back with a jumping clothesline on Grimes and Hayes adds a springboard crossbody. It’s a double tag to bring in Williams and Sikoa with Sikoa getting taken down as we take a break.

Back with Hayes holding Sikoa in a chinlock, which is broken up without much trouble. The tag brings Grimes back in to clean house, including the double hurricanrana. There’s a high crossbody to Hayes but Sikoa tags himself in to break up the Cave In. Sikoa drops Hayes and the Cave In hits Williams, setting up the Superfly Splash to finish Hayes at 9:59.

Rating: C+. Four talented people were put into a match and two of them won, with the #1 contender to the North American Title taking the fall. I’m sure this won’t set up a triple threat match for the title, because that is never something WWE would do. The action here was as good as you would have expected and it was a solid choice for an opener.

Post match Sikoa hands Grimes the North American Title, albeit with quite the stare.

Pretty Deadly certainly isn’t scared of the Creed Brothers.

Video on Thea Hail training at the Performance Center. She has been decent enough on LVL Up. Oh but first she needs to graduate high school.

Women’s Breakout Tournament First Round: Lash Legend vs. Tatum Paxley

Legend powers her into the corner to start but gets caught in a headscissors. That’s escaped with a nip up and Paxley can’t get an electric chair. Paxley’s leg is messed up so Legend wraps it around the bottom rope to make it worse. A stretch muffler goes on but Paxley pulls herself up and manages a rollup for two. The electric chair still doesn’t work so she grabs a suplex, only to hurt her knee again. A standing spinning moonsault gives Paxley two but she STILL can’t get the electric chair (try something else already). That lets Legend hit the pump kick for the pin at 3:54.

Rating: C-. I don’t think it’s any real secret that this tournament is going to end with Legend and/or Nikkita Lyons in the finals so running through Paxley was a mere formality here. Legend has improved a lot and not letting her talk is the best thing NXT could have gone, but she still has a long way to go. Certainly not an awful match here though and that is a big upgrade for Legend.

Tony D’Angelo and company are ready for Legado del Fantasma tonight.

NXT is returning to live touring in Florida this summer. That is great to hear for them as the wrestlers need the reps.

Duke Hudson is talking about how he took some time off…and Bron Breakker walks by, saying to play his music.

Here is Breakker in the ring for a chat. Breakker talks about how Joe Gacy left him in a field and now wants him to join Gacy’s cause. That earns Gacy an offer of kissing a certain part of Breakker, but here is Gacy to interrupt. Breakker says he doesn’t trust him but Gacy says the people want Gacy vs. Breakker, one on one. That’s fine with Breakker, who says the match is on but Gacy wants to raise the stakes. It should be Breakker destroying Gacy and hurting him every way he can. That gives Gacy an idea: if Breakker gets disqualified, he loses the title. Deal. Sure why not, as it’s not like anything else in this feud has mattered.

Indi Hartwell is tired of feeling sorry for herself so she wants to face Mandy Rose.

Wes Lee says Xyon Quin isn’t medically cleared but Lee is waiting on him. Nathan Frazer comes in for a challenge for tonight. Lee says there is a lot of pent up aggression so he doesn’t want to hurt Frazer. The match seems to be on.

Viking Raiders vs. Creed Brothers

Roderick Strong and Damon Kemp are here with the Creeds. The Creeds start fast and knock the Vikings outside early on. We settle down to Erik running Julius down and the Raiders be clubberin. The armbar goes on, followed by a clothesline and the front facelock. Julius fights up and brings Brutus in to clean house, including a dropkick to knock Ivar off the top. Brutus hits a top rope cannonball to the floor (and lands hard on his feet) as we take a break.

Back with Brutus getting two on Erik and taking him into the corner to keep up the beating. Erik breaks that up and dives over to Ivar to make the tag, meaning house can be cleaned. Everything breaks down and a spinebuster gets two on Erik. Brutus is sent outside and it’s back to Ivar, setting up a middle rope World’s Strongest Slam for two, with Brutus making the save.

A German suplex drops Erik and Julius runs the top, only to have a superplex attempt broken up. Ivar misses the top rope splash, allowing Brutus to grab an Oklahoma roll for two as Erik makes a save of his own. Everyone slugs it out so Kemp gets in the apron, allowing Strong to offer some interference. Julius breaks that up, only to have the Raiders double powerbomb Julius for the pin at 13:01.

Rating: B. This was about four big, strong guys beating on each other and throwing around some suplexes, which is all it should have been. They didn’t waste time here and the ending plays into the story that was set up in their first match. It’s another case of the #1 contenders losing, but at least the Raiders winning isn’t a total stretch.

Post match, the Diamond Mine seems ready to split.

Legado del Fantasma is ready for Tony D’Angelo and company.

Tiffany Stratton gives Grayson Waller a pep talk.

Bron Breakker is ready for Joe Gacy but Duke Hudson interrupts. A match is set for later tonight.

Grayson Waller vs. Andre Chase

Bodhi Hayward is here with Chase. Waller pounds away to start but Chase is back with a neckbreaker. That earns him a big boot though and Waller gets in some right hands. This does not sit well with Sarray, the honorary Chase U flag bearer, and neither does a suplex from Waller. A side kick gives Waller two but Chase catapults him into the corner. The spelling stomps set up a backdrop but Waller lands on Hayward by mistake. The distraction lets Waller hit the rolling Stunner for the pin at 4:14.

Rating: C. Chase is still one of the most entertaining people in NXT but he shouldn’t be going over someone like Waller. NXT certainly sees something in Waller and he is almost good enough to be on the main roster today (and might already be ready). Let Chase stay around here where he can pop the crowd with a funny line every so often and things will be fine.

Toxic Attraction doesn’t think much of Kayden Carter/Katana Chance/Indi Hartwell have been talking about them. Revenge is promised.

The Diamond Mine argues in the back with the Creed Brothers walking away. Roderick Strong tells Damon Kemp to deal with this. With Kemp gone, Pretty Deadly comes in to say the Creeds aren’t winning no matter what.

Women’s Breakout Tournament First Round: Roxanne Perez vs. Kiana James

James takes her down to start and goes after the arm but Perez grabs some armdrags. A backbreaker puts Perez in trouble but she reverses a Boston crab into a rollup for two. Another spinning backbreaker drops Perez again as she can’t get any kind of momentum. Perez finally manages a headscissors for a breather and a Russian legsweep gets two. James hits a side slam but misses a charge into the corner, allowing Perez to hit Uproxx for the pin at 5:11.

Rating: C-. I wasn’t feeling this one as James was getting a bit repetitive with her side slams and backbreakers. Much like the Legend match though, there wasn’t a lot of drama in Perez winning, as she is someone who could be a star in short order around here. James has an interesting enough gimmick to go a little somewhere, but it might be a lot better suited as a manager.

Malik Blade and Edris Enofe mock the Tony D’Angelo vs. Santos Escobar war. D’Angelo’s goons come in and the match is set for next week.

Cora Jade congratulates Roxanne Perez on her win but Elektra Lopez comes in to promise to beat Alba Fyre next week. Jade and Perez aren’t impressed.

Wes Lee vs. Nathan Frazer

Feeling out process to start and they go to a rather early standoff. Frazer misses the threat of a superkick and gets sent to the apron, with Lee knocking him to the floor. They switch places again and it’s Frazer hitting a heck of a suicide dive. Back in and Lee grabs a German suplex for two but Frazer catches him on top. A superplex attempt is countered into a crossbody for two and they’re both down again. They hit stereo crossbodies for a double knockdown and they need a breather. Not that it matters as Von Wagner runs in to kick Frazer in the face for the DQ at 4:22.

Rating: C+. The match was the usual spot fest style of entertaining and that’s not a bad thing, but it feels like the kind of a match that I’ve seen half a dozen times this month alone. Throw in Wagner being the big focus at the end and it doesn’t make things much better. I still feel sorry for Lee, as he is stuck trying to start from scratch after something that wasn’t his fault.

Post match Wagner beats up Lee as well, setting up a big gorilla press toss onto the announcers’ table.

Wes Lee and Nathan Frazer run into Sanga, who says they did well for men their size. Lee takes that personally but Frazer isn’t getting involved. Sanga doesn’t want to get involved in this but a match is set for next week.

Tony D’Angelo vs. Santos Escobar

Feeling out process to start with D’Angelo running him over and stomping away. Escobar fights back but his dive is cut off, allowing D’Angelo to do more mob stereotypes as we take an early break. Back with Escobar hitting a kick to the face to put D’Angelo on the floor, setting up a heck of a suicide dive.

A dropkick takes D’Angelo down and another puts him on the apron as well. D’Angelo grabs a belly to belly into the corner and they both go up top, where Escobar snaps off a super hurricanrana. The fans chanting knocks the sound out and here is the rest of Legado for a distraction. D’Angelo’s goons come in to take care of them, but Escobar uses the distraction to knock D’Angelo cold for the pin at 12:42.

Rating: C. I cannot put into words how little I care about this whole gang wars story. It isn’t my kind of thing and I haven’t gotten interested in anything they’re doing. The worst part is how out of sync it feels with just about everything else on the show and that makes it stick out so much. Escobar and D’Angelo are talented enough that they don’t need the other the top stuff, yet here we are again.

Joe Gacy, with his minions, talks about how Bron Breakker’s lack of control will cost him the NXT Title, allowing Gacy to control the brand (yes the brand) and the world. Maniacal laughter, apparently from on top of a rather high building, ends the show.

Overall Rating: C. It was a very up and down show this week, as some good action was drowned out by some pretty uninteresting stories. I still have no idea why Breakker vs. Gacy is continuing or how some of these things are the best ideas that NXT has, but we are full steam ahead towards In Your House. Hopefully that means a change of pace for a lot of things, as the action is only going to carry it so far.

Results
Solo Sikoa/Cameron Grimes b. Trick Williams/Carmelo Hayes – Superfly Splash to Hayes
Lash Legend b. Tatum Paxley – Pump kick
Viking Raiders b. Creed Brothers – Double powerbomb to Julius
Grayson Waller b. Andre Chase – Rolling Stunner
Roxanne Perez b. Kiana James – Uproxx
Nathan Frazer b. Wes Lee via DQ when Von Wagner interfered
Santos Escobar b. Tony D’Angelo – Right hand with brass knuckles

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NXT
Date: May 3, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph

It’s Spring Breakin, which is somehow a name that has never been used before. It’s one of those big time shows that has a pair of title matches included, capped off by Joe Gacy challenging Bron Breakker for the NXT Title. The show is looking stacked enough to be good so let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Pretty Deadly is by the pool to welcome us to the show, while admiring their Tag Team Titles. After running down the card, they jump into the pool and we’re ready to go.

North American Title: Cameron Grimes vs. Solo Sikoa vs. Carmelo Hayes

Grimes is defending and Trick Williams is here with Hayes. Sikoa and Grimes take turns chopping Hayes and a heck of a backdrop sends Hayes bailing to the floor. Back in and Hayes is hiptossed into Sikoa but pulls him in for a hurricanrana. Hayes hits a springboard clothesline on Sikoa but Grimes takes him down, setting up a high crossbody to Sikoa for two of his own. Back up and Hayes takes both of them down as we go to a break.

We come back with Sikoa headbutting Hayes down but the backsplash hits raised knees. Hayes goes up but Sikoa catches him, only to have Grimes charge at both of them. The Tower of Doom gives us a HOLY CENSORED (at least some of the time) chant before switching to the more family friendly THIS IS AWESOME. It’s time for the three way forearm off with Sikoa getting the better of things, setting up a double running Umaga Attack in the same corner. Grimes gets powerbombed onto Hayes but the Superfly Splash is broken up.

Grimes hurricanranas both of them at the same time and hits a poisonrana for two on Hayes. The Cave In is countered into something like a Codebreaker to give Hayes two of his own but Sikoa superkicks Hayes out of the air. Sikoa hits the Superfly Splash on Grimes for a VERY close near fall, which looked like three as Hayes might have been a split second late with the save. With that not working, Sikoa loads up the Samoan drop on Hayes but Grimes comes in off the middle rope with the Cave In for the retaining pin on Sikoa at 14:09.

Rating: B. That near fall was crazy close and they might have let it be close enough for it to be a pin. They were rolling near the end of this though and I was way into the thing, which isn’t something you get to say very often in NXT. It was also something of a coming out party for Sikoa and he has a future around here. Great match and they started very hot this week.

Mandy Rose went tanning earlier today but Wendy Choo runs in (wearing full costume of course) to sabotage things. The rest of Toxic Attraction shows up and finds her completely burned, but they’re going to go to the beach without her. Rose screams at the sight of herself in the mirror.

Nathan Frazer can’t believe he’s here and it’s like every birthday and Christmas rolled into one.

Roderick Strong gives the Creed Brothers a pep talk at Diamond Mine practice. He also makes it clear that he’s in charge of the team, which doesn’t sit well with the Creeds.

Indi Hartwell is sad that….well she doesn’t say, but she is touching her empty ring finger. Here is Duke Hudson to tease kissing her, but they both snap backwards, with Hartwell saying “oh h*** no” and Hudson saying “you wish”. Ok then, though it’s not like they have anything else for these two to do.

Nathan Frazer vs. Grayson Waller

Feeling out process to start with Frazer grabbing a headlock but Waller fights up. A dropkick sends him to the floor though, only to run up the aisle before Frazer can dive. They slug it out in the aisle before heading back to the ring for more slugging. Waller breaks up Frazer’s dive and hits a slide underneath the ropes for a right hand on the floor. A beach ball is added, which Waller tears apart to become my (and Cesaro’s) new favorite as we take a break.

Back with Frazer making the comeback and knocking Waller off the apron. The suicide dive drops Waller again and a superkick cuts off the rolling Stunner. A superkick gives Frazer two but Waller punches him down into the corner. Frazer goes up but gets knocked down so Waller heads up as well. Cue Andre Chase (who has been seen in the crowd throughout the match) with an air horn for a distraction to knock Waller off the top. Frazer’s Phoenix splash finishes Waller off at 12:38.

Rating: C+. Waller looked better here, as he feels like someone who knows how to be a villain. On the other hand, you have Frazer, who did look good, but felt like someone who is a more polished version of someone we’ve seen a dozen times. Frazer feels like a very modern wrestler while Waller felt like someone with some upward potential. Neither looked bad, but Waller was better.

Fallon Henley is in the Breakout Tournament and loves horses, including her own, Luna. These vignettes are good as they tell you a little something about the women to give you an introduction. The fact that Henley has been around for months makes it a little late, but I’ll take what I can get.

We get the sitdown meeting between Legado del Fantasma and Tony D’Angelo and company. Santos Escobar respects him but not as a businessman. They both want the same things, but argue over who controls the NXT pie. Eventually they agree to peace though and share a toast. The mafia leaves and Escobar says start the car, which seems to have some hidden meaning. This is one of those things fans are probably going to love or hate without much in between ground.

The Viking Raiders are ready to hurt the Creed Brothers…but Pretty deadly interrupts to say they want to see the Raiders smash the Creeds. Just remember though: the Creeds are damaged goods. The Raiders warn them over the interruption and threaten to change their focus, which gets Pretty Deadly to back off.

Joe Gacy warns us of what happens if he doesn’t win the NXT Title tonight. He is change.

Nikkita Lyons/Cora Jade vs. Natalya/Lash Legend

Legend throws Jade into the corner to start but misses a charge so Jade can slug away. Natalya comes in and trades some rollups with Jade for two each. Lyons comes in and gets headlocked to the mat but Natalya is right back up. The wristlock doesn’t work well for Lyons and it’s off to Legend to take over. Legend hits a Cactus Clothesline on Lyons and the partners are outside to check on both of them as we take a break.

Back with Natalya dropping Jade for two more and a snap suplex gets the same. The chinlock doesn’t last long so Legend comes in for some shouts to the ribs in the corner. Jade fights up (as Natalya very clearly told her to on camera) and gets over for the tag to Lyons. House is cleaned, including the running Blockbuster for two on Natalya. Legend comes back in to take Lyons down for some knees to the ribs but Natalya kicks her down by mistake. Lyons gets over to Jade, who comes in with a top rope backsplash for the pin at 13:24.

Rating: C. That’s on a bit of a sliding scale as Legend is not ready for anything complicated yet, but this was a mostly watchable match with Natalya being the glue to hold it together. Other than that, you have Jade bouncing around and Lyons adding some charisma. It’s not great or even very good, but this felt like it could have been a disaster and was completely watchable.

Tatum Paxley likes powerlifting, and presumably winning the Breakout Tournament.

Toxic Attraction goes to the beach, where Wendy Choo and Roxanne Perez steal their shoes and car. To recap, Choo has injured Mandy Rose and then stole a car. I’m supposed to cheer for her because….reasons?

Creed Brothers vs. Viking Raiders

The Raiders start fast and take both Creeds down, setting up the Viking Experience for two on Julius. Brutus fights back up and hits a release gutwrench suplex on Erik. That doesn’t last long as Ivar takes both of them down and we go to a break. Back with Brutus suplexing his way out of a headlock and bringing in Julius to slam Erik. An exchange of suplexes gives Ivar two and he drops Erik onto Brutus to make it worse.

Ivar’s middle rope splash gives Erik two because the Creeds like to kick out of a lot of stuff. Ivar goes up again but Julius runs the corner for a top rope superplex. Erik is back up for the belly to back suplex/top rope legdrop combination. Brutus and Ivar fall to the floor, leaving Roderick Strong to run in for a cheap shot on Erik (Julius didn’t see him). The basement lariat finishes for Julius at 12:52.

Rating: C. I’m getting a bit over the Creeds being able to kick out of everything, but the ending seems like a way for them to break away from Strong and end the Diamond Mine for good. The Creeds are all but guaranteed to win the titles soon and them crushing Pretty Deadly should be good. As usual, the main roster contingent did their jobs well here, with a win over the Raiders feeling like an accomplishment for the Creeds.

Post match the Creeds see the replay and aren’t happy with Strong.

Santos Escobar and AJ Galante meet in the parking lot. Then Escobar jumps him and the rest of Legado kidnaps him, because that’s what you do in the NXT parking lot.

Alba Fyre likes fire.

Earlier this week, Brooks Jensen is told that normally his injury recovery time is about 10-12 weeks, but since the muscles in his hand are so strong (ahem), it will be 6-8 weeks.

Bron Breakker throws a comically large on/off switch to start his music.

NXT Title: Joe Gacy vs. Bron Breakker

Breakker, in apparently the same singlet that Rick Steiner wore to the first Raw (ignore that it is a different color and design), is defending. Gacy gets powered to the floor to start but comes back in with a cheap shot. The chinlock goes on for a bit before another shot knocks Breakker to the floor.

We take a break and come back with Breakker getting pulled off the middle rope, allowing Gacy to flip himself upside down in the corner (as Bray Wyatt rolls his eyes somewhere). An armbar doesn’t last long as Breakker is back up and drops him onto the top. Some shoulders set up a running clothesline but the overhead belly to belly is blocked. Gacy hits a reverse DDT for two but Breakker is right back with a Steiner Bulldog for two.

Breakker misses a charge into the corner but stops himself (in a nice call back to the Dolph Ziggler feud), setting up a Frankensteiner. A not great looking belly to belly gives Breakker two but he misses a charge, allowing Gacy to hit an Alabama Slam. Gacy’s sitout powerbomb gets two more but the handspring lariat misses. Breakker spears him down to retain the title at 11:02.

Rating: D+. Yeah this missed and it missed pretty hard. Gacy never felt like a threat and they were on different pages at times. I’m still not sure why Gacy is seen as some kind of a major player in NXT as he is turning into more and more of a Bray Wyatt knockoff every day. This whole feud has felt like a major waste of time for Breakker and now he needs to move on to almost anyone else.

Post match Breakker poses but two masked men pop up on the apron behind him….and that’s the show, with Breakker not seeing them.

Overall Rating: C. This show started off well and then hit a hard wall, mainly around the time they started focusing on the goofy stuff. That’s what drives me crazy about NXT: they have the talent and the ability to put on a good show, but then you get around to the stuff they seem to enjoy doing and it all falls apart. You have Perez and Choo as criminals, plus a turf war between the mob and Legado. That stuff is so goofy that it could be fun, but they can’t even get that stuff to work right. The first hour was good enough to carry the show, but it was just barely enough to make up for the bad.

Results
Cameron Grimes b. Solo Sikoa and Carmelo Hayes – Middle rope Cave In to Sikoa
Nathan Frazer b. Grayson Waller – Phoenix splash
Cora Jade/Nikkita Lyons b. Natalya/Lash Legend – Top rope backsplash to Legend
Creed Brothers b. Viking Raiders – Sliding lariat to Erik
Bron Breakker b. Joe Gacy – Spear

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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NXT
Date: April 12, 2022
Location: Capitol Sports Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett

It’s another huge week around here as we have a series of title matches. This includes a guaranteed new champion as the vacant Tag Team Titles are on the line in a gauntlet match. Other than that, there are two title matches as the North American and Women’s Titles are on the line as well. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

The opening recap looks at Bron Breakker retaining the NXT Title over Gunther to send him to Smackdown, only to have Joe Gacy and Harland kidnap Breakker’s father Rick Steiner. Because of course they did.

North American Title: Cameron Grimes vs. Solo Sikoa

Grimes is defending and misses a running kick to the face to start. Sikoa’s waistlock is countered into an armbar and Sikoa can’t do much to get out of it. The hold is finally broken up so they shake hands, though Grimes says Sikoa’s Bloodline can kiss his grits. An enziguri knocks Sikoa to the floor and the apron flip dive takes us to a break.

Back with Grimes hitting a bridging German suplex for two but the Cave In misses. Sikoa hits the running Umaga Attack in the corner for two and it’s time to slug it out. Grimes’ flipping powerslam gets two but Sikoa knocks him down again. The Superfly Splash is broken up by an invading Trick Williams, allowing Grimes (not sure if he saw Williams) to hit the Cave In to retain at 13:11.

Rating: C+. The ending should tell you where some stories are going, though Grimes retaining is a good sign. He finally won something and now setting up his title reign with a win gives me some hope. Grimes will have to beat Hayes in a regular match at some point so they might as well get there now.

Post match Williams and Carmelo Hayes beat Grimes down.

We go over the gauntlet match but Grayson Waller/Sanga interrupt so Waller can brag about how easy of a win it is going to be.

Video on Pretty Deadly attacking the Creed Brothers again last week. The Creeds demand revenge.

The Creeds draw their numbers and seem happy.

Here is Bron Breakker for a chat and he isn’t happy with what Joe Gacy and Harland did to Rick Steiner. Gacy pops up on screen and says they beat up Steiner but then let him go, which started teaching them about Breakker himself. They still have Rick’s Hall of Fame ring, which they throw in a fire, leaving Breakker stunned/silent. Throw the feud in with it if you can.

We look at Toxic Attraction winning the Women’s Tag Team Titles back last week.

Toxic Attraction brags about their win, with Mandy Rose promising to beat Dakota Kai tonight because the team is that good.

Von Wagner destroys Jacket Time in the back. That should take care of his match with Kushida

An angry Bron Breakker gets in his car and leaves.

Here are Robert Stone and Von Wagner to say Jacket Time is done. Hold on though as here is Ikemen Jiro to go after Wagner on his own.

Von Wagner vs. Ikemen Jiro

Jiro is banged up but slugs away on Wagner anyway. Wagner runs him over but Jiro is back up with the jacket punches. That’s too much for Wagner, who hits him in the face and hits the Death Valley Driver for the pin at 2:57.

Post match the attractive yet still unnamed woman tells Wagner to do more, which sees Jiro tossed from the ring and into the crowd.

Nikkita Lyons is ready to step up around here but Lash Legend kicks her in the face.

Video on Pretty Deadly, who dominated the United Kingdom and can do it here too. They started with the Creed Brothers and it’s time to win the Tag Team Titles.

Pretty Deadly draw their numbers and dance off.

Women’s Title: Dakota Kai vs. Mandy Rose

Rose is defending and has the rest of Toxic Attraction with her. Kai goes straight at her to start but gets taken down, allowing Rose to pose. A crucifix gives Kai two and she hits a dropkick. Kai kicks Rose to the floor and there’s a big dive to take out the team. We take a break and come back with Rose working on a bodyscissors before choking in the corner.

The chinlock goes on but Kai fights out and hits a Russian legsweep for two. Rose misses a pump kick but manages a spinebuster for two of her own. Kai keeps up the pace with a small package for a knee fall, setting up the Kairopractor. Toxic Attraction offers a needed distraction though, allowing Rose to hit the running knee to retain at 10:48.

Rating: C. NXT has somehow managed to turn Rose into a dragon that needs to be slayed, though I don’t need it to be anytime soon. Rose is starting to feel like a major player as champion and that could work for a pretty long while longer. Beating Kai might not be some huge game changer, but it is another win under Rose’s belt before someone takes the title from her.

Post match Wendy Choo pops up to spray Toxic Attraction with water guns. Barrett: “How old is Wendy Choo?” Better question is how old is whoever wrote this.

Joe Gacy doesn’t like social media and the court of public opinion. He is the only one who can carry NXT because Bron Breakker is too emotional. Now he is going to control Breakker’s life and tear it all down, but he’ll keep one thing. He pulls the Hall of Fame ring out of the fire and puts it on, because Gacy is a full on cult guy these days.

Tony D’Angelo comes up to Legado del Fantasma and offers an envelope to Santos Escobar as a peace offering. Escobar takes the envelope and puts it back in D’Angelo’s pocket.

Here is Cora Jade for a chat. Wrestlemania weekend was big to her but the best part was having her parents in the second row (Jade: “Working on front row guys.”). She held her own at Stand & Deliver but now she NEEDS to win the Women’s Title. When she was eight years old, she promised to be a champion and now she is going to work hard to be the best ever. Cue Natalya to interrupt and Jade is stunned.

Jade goes all fangirl as Natalya is happy to be back in the building. Jade talks about being ten years old and talking to Natalya on Twitter after a show in Indiana. Natalya remembers the night and knows she pointed to the right girl after that show. She dubs Jade as the future of the women’s division….but the future is bleak. Natalya slaps her in the face and puts on the Sharpshooter, making Jade tap. Having Jade act like she is a five year old meeting Santa Claus and then getting beaten up isn’t a good idea, though Natalya putting someone in NXT over is.

Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen are fired up for the gauntlet match, with Fallon Henley yelling at them to go do it.

Nathan Frazer is coming.

Draco Anthony vs. Xyon Quinn

Anthony drives him into the corner to start but Quinn reverses for some shoulders to the ribs. Back up and Anthony blocks the Siva Tao, earning himself the running right hand to the face. Another punch knocks Anthony sillier and a third finishes at 2:56. Basically a squash.

Natalya comes in to see the women’s roster and, after accepting a challenge from Tatum Paxley, tells them that they’re all on notice. Noted.

Persia Pirotta and Indi Hartwell decide that Dexter Lumis and Duke Hudson should team up, though the guys aren’t into it. I knew it. I knew it. I KNEW IT! They have to take the stupidest story they have and turn it into something even worse because they can’t let ANYTHING ever go.

Tag Team Titles: Gauntlet Match

The titles are vacant coming in and there are five teams entered. The Creed Brothers are in at #1 and Legado del Fantasma are in at #2. They start fast with Wilde hitting a big dive to the floor to drop both Creeds and the fans are behind Legado. We settle down to Mendoza hitting some running clotheslines on Julius, setting up a springboard flip dive to give Wilde two. Julius gets up for the tag though and everything breaks down with Legado getting caught in stereo ankle locks.

Those are broken up and Julius is sent face first into the middle buckle. There’s a springboard missile dropkick to the back, setting up a 450 to give Wilde two. Brutus pulls Mendoza to the floor, leaving Julius to hit an Angle Slam. An assisted spinebuster sets up the basement lariat to give the Creeds the pin at 4:33.

Josh Briggs/Brooks Jensen (with Fallon Henley) are in at #3, though Henley and Elektra Lopez get in a shoving match during the entrances. The teams actually involved get in a brawl as we take a break. Back with Briggs and Jensen in control and taking apart the announcers’ table. The double powerbomb sends Brutus through the table, leaving Julius to get punched in the face.

Brutus is back up (because powerbombs through tables are shrugged off) but gets knocked down again, leaving Julius to get sitout powerbombed for two. A top rope knee/Dominator (or close enough) combination gets two more with Brutus making the save. Julius brings Brutus back in, though Briggs and Jensen bring him over the top. The high/low is broken up though and Julius’ sliding lariat is good for the pin at 13:23 (total).

Grayson Waller (still banged up) and Sanga are in at #4. Sanga gets an easy cover for two on Julius, who slips out of a chokeslam and starts swinging away. Waller comes in to dance a bit and we take a break. Back again with Brutus finally throwing Waller down and making the tag off to Julius for a breather. Brutus starts cleaning house, including a suplex on Sanga. It’s back to Julius for the basement lariat to finish Sanga at 19:49.

Pretty Deadly is in at #5 to complete the field and now I get to try to figure out their new names, because of course they have new names. Deadly starts dropping knees and Julius gets caught in the wrong corner. Some right hands set up a failed suplex attempt but it’s Wilson coming back in for a double suplex.

Julius fights out of the corner and brings Brutus back in, only to get caught in the corner with a running elbow. A gutbuster drops Brutus and Julius is sent hard into the steps. Everything breaks down and a double headbutt puts Brutus and Wilson down. Prince gets in a cheap shot on Brutus though and Spilt Milk (Hart Attack with a running neckbreaker instead of a clothesline) gives Deadly the titles at 27:55.

Rating: C+. This is one of those formulas that WWE loves in gauntlet matches, as the Creeds basically beat most of the existing tag division before the new team beats them in the end. It was a very long match, but the Creeds surviving so much was getting to be a lot by the end. You can only have them take so much before it’s hurting the teams they’re beating and that took place here. At the same time, Pretty Deadly are fine choices for champions and I’m glad to see them getting their shot on the main NXT rather than just the UK version. It worked over there and it can over here too.

The Creeds are spent to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. The main event helped this a lot and the three title matches felt like big deals, though the prospect of Bron Breakker vs. Joe Gacy for any length of time doesn’t do much for me. I do like some of the new stars coming in, as one of the best things about the old days of NXT was the rapid turnover of talent. You need to bring in new people and if that means taking away some of the longer running NXT UK stars, so be it. I liked this show for the most part and the ending makes me even more interesting going forward, so call it a success this week.

Results
Cameron Grimes b. Solo Sikoa – Cave In
Von Wagner b. Ikemen Jiro – Death Valley Driver
Xyon Quinn b. Draco Anthony – Running punch
Mandy Rose b. Dakota Kai – Running knee
Pretty Deadly won a gauntlet match last eliminating Creed Brothers

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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AND

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NXT UK
Date: March 3, 2022
Location: BT Sports Studios, London, England
Commentators: Andy Shepherd, Nigel McGuinness

It’s time for another title week here as Ilja Dragunov is defending the United Kingdom Title against Nathan Frazer. That should make for a great one, as the two of them have a nice record of rising to the occasion in the big matches. Other than that, Gallus gets Sha Samuels in a preview of Joe Coffey vs. Noam Dar for the Heritage Cup later this month. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a video on Nathan Frazer vs. Ilja Dragunov.

Opening sequence.

Sha Samuels vs. Mark Coffey

There are no seconds here for a change. They slug it out to start with Samuels headlocking him over. With that not working, Coffey is back up and starts working on the arm, setting up a Russian legsweep. A backdrop sends Samuels rolling to the floor but he’s right back in to kick away. Samuels drops him with a running clothesline before pulling up the suspenders for some reason.

Coffey gets twisted down by the arm and the logical armbar goes on. That’s broken up and Coffey runs him over for a change, setting up a double clothesline for a double knockdown. Back up and they slug it out until Coffey hits a half nelson slam, setting up a sliding uppercut for the pin at 7:40.

Rating: C. It’s almost strange to see Coffey having a singles match but he looked good enough in there. Samuels has gotten himself in pretty impressive shape so the his stuff has an extra impact. This was little more than a preview for next week though, which is probably going to feel like a major title match when we get there.

Charlie Dempsey interrupted A-Kid’s training session and asks for a demonstration of the style A-Kid was using. A-Kid says no because Dempsey will use it against him, only to have Die Familie jump him from behind. Dempsey tells them to back off as medics come in to check on A-Kid.

Isla Dawn is around what seems to be some castle ruins and sings a lot, talking about how Meiko Satomura will soon fall. Then she puts a flower in a box.

We look back at Trent Seven kind of cheating to retain the Tag Team Titles last week.

Moustache Mountain is happy with retaining the titles when Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter come in to yell about the ending. Seven says it’s about retaining the titles by any means so Smith and Carter want a rematch. Cool with the champs.

Dave Mastiff/Jack Starz vs. Pretty Deadly

Carter now has his leather vest to match Mastiff. Howley isn’t sure what to do with Mastiff to start so Mastiff drives him up against the ropes. Some kicks to the leg stagger Mastiff but he clotheslines both of them down at once. Stoker comes in and gets caught in the wrong corner so Starz can come in with a slingshot splash for two. It’s back to Howley, who gets his arm cranked on but Stoker is back in off a blind tag. That means Starz is sent into the post and the beating is on.

A splash/legdrop combination gets two on Starz and an assisted middle rope bulldog gets two. The chinlock goes on but Mastiff hits Howley from the apron. That means when Stoker catapults Starz, he is able to sunset flip Howley for two. The hot tag brings in Mastiff to clean house but Stoker grabs Starz’s new vest. It’s back to Starz to clean house in a hurry, including a powerbomb to finish Stoker at 10:35 (leaving Mastiff STUNNED).

Rating: C+. This is an interesting way to go for the story as Mastiff and Starz seemed to being on their way to a split and then come back to win a big match here. It makes enough sense and now we might be in for a new direction for the team. If nothing else, it was cool to see Starz get a win like this, as he has come a long way over the years.

Xia Brookside calls her dad and asks her for help with something. Then she yells at the cameraman for filming her.

The truck driver from last week is walking in the woods while someone (not clear if it is the truck driver or not) talks about surviving. The driver finds a tin can and some bones before what looks to be a masked man pops out from behind a tree. Voice: “The hunt has begun.” So it’s Wild Boar?

Video on Joe Coffey vs. Noam Dar, who meet next week for the Heritage Cup.

United Kingdom Title: Ilja Dragunov vs. Nathan Frazer

Dragunov is defending and can’t get very far off a wristlock to start. With that not working, Frazer backs him into a corner for the tease of a clean break, only to pull him down into a headlock instead. That’s fine with the champ, who switches into one of his own until Frazer fights up and starts running the ropes rather quickly, allowing him to run Dragunov over. Back up and Dragunov gets in a few shots of his own to slow things back down and start striking away.

A cobra clutch keeps Frazer down for a few more seconds so Dragunov chops him in the corner, setting up a spinning elbow for two. The cobra clutch takes Frazer back to the mat but this time he pulls himself up for an enziguri. Dragunov is fine enough to roll some German suplexes, with Frazer landing on his feet off the third though. Frazer gets knocked down again though and this time it’s a cobra stretch to put him in more trouble.

That’s escaped as well and Frazer superkicks him into a standing hurricanrana for two. An exchange of shots to the head goes to Dragunov, who forearms the mat by mistake. Frazer scores with a Sling Blade and a pair of superkicks get two more. That lets Frazer go up top but he has to roll through a slam back down.

Dragunov hits him with the bad arm before going up top but the injury lets Frazer catch up and hit a super hurricanrana. The phoenix splash gives Frazer two more and it’s time for the big slugout. Another hurricanrana is countered into a powerbomb to give Dragunov two so Frazer starts kicking at the bad arm. Said bad arm blasts Frazer with a clothesline, setting up Torpedo Moscow to retain the title at 14:31.

Rating: B. This didn’t quite get as good as I was expecting but it was very entertaining for a big television main event. Dragunov is likely going to hold that title for a long time to come and this was his latest effort against a rather tough challenger. Frazer will be back around the title picture one day, but he needed to be a bit more seasoned, which is where a loss like this can be helpful. Good match here, as both of them could be top stars for a long time to come.

Dragunov helps him up and shakes his hand to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. As usual, the main event is the best part of the show and carries a lot of the rest of the week. Dragunov gets to keep his reign going for probably at least another month as we get to find out his next challenger. Other than that, Mastiff and Starz get their momentum back and we have another title match next week. Not too shabby, as always seems to be the case around here

Results
Mark Coffey b. Sha Samuels – Sliding uppercut
Dave Mastiff/Jack Starz b. Pretty Deadly – Powerbomb to Stoker
Ilja Dragunov b. Nathan Frazer – Torpedo Moscow

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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NXT UK
Date: February 24, 2022
Location: BT Sports Studios, London, England
Commentators: Andy Shepherd, Nigel McGuinness

It’s time for another title show as Moustache Mountain is defending their Tag Team Titles against Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter. That could be quite the showdown, as NXT UK tends to do rather well when it comes to title matches. I’m curious to see what else they have on the show so let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

The opening video looks at the Tag Team Title match, as Smith and Carter are ready for their big shot at the gold.

Opening sequence.

Amale vs. Xia Brookside

They fight over wrist control to start with Amale taking her down into an armbar. Back up and a shoulder drops Brookside, who can’t believe Amale would do that to him. Amale tries to pull her out to the corner but Brookside says Amale can’t do that. Brookside: “I’M SPECIAL!” Amale counters a crossbody into a slam and a basement dropkick gets two. Brookside finally gets in a shot of her own and chokes Amale on the ropes before standing on her back for some screaming.

The armbar has Amale in trouble and the look on her makes would make you think she is being stabbed by a lightning bolt. Some elbows to the head have Amale in more trouble and Brookside mocks her again. Back up and Amale strikes away, including a running boot to the side of the head. Brookside forearms her back though and a kick to the head makes it worse. Amale isn’t having that though and sends her into the corner for a running boot to the face. The Hope Breaker gives Amale the pin at 6:17.

Rating: C+. Brookside is really starting to feel it with this stuck up brat daddy’s girl and that could suit her very well going forward. At the same time though, Amale continues to seem to be the future of the division and odds are she will wind up being the Women’s Champion one day. If nothing else, they are building her up some something and having her win matches over and over is the right way to go.

Sha Samuels and Noam Dar want to see Gallus suspended for stealing Supernova Sessions. Instead, Sid Scala is giving Joe Coffey a Heritage Cup shot. Mark Coffey can face Samuels too.

Pretty Deadly walks through a Jack Starz/Dave Mastiff interview. Mastiff tells Starz that he knows what to do. That brings us to Challenge #4: Bomber Initiative. Starz goes into Pretty Deadly’s dressing room and we cut to Pretty Deadly in their street clothes….which now have holes in the chest. Yelling ensues.

Rohan Raja vs. Danny Jones

The rest of Die Familie is here with Raja. Jones can’t spin out of a wristlock to start but some right hands in the corner work a bit better. A knee to the ribs takes Raja down and a boot to the face sends Raja outside for a Die Familie meeting. For some reason Jones decides to go outside after him and gets driven into the apron to put Raja back in control.

A running basement dropkick to the back of the head gives Raja two but his trash talk brings Jones back up. An enziguri into a belly to back suplex drops Raja again but it’s a rather slow near fall. Jones’ banged up back gives out though and it’s a Backstabber into a jumping Downward Spiral to give Raja the pin at 5:03.

Rating: C. It wasn’t a classic or anything but it was a way to have Jones get in some offense before going down to the bigger star. That was a nice rub to Jones, with is really just a guy in trunks, which makes it a little harder to find something for him to do. Not a bad match whatsoever, and Raja gave him a pretty good bit here.

Post match the big beatdown is on with Jones being left laying, though Charlie Dempsey didn’t seem sure about it at first.

Eddie Dennis whispers to Symbiosis about how an arrow has to be pulled back before it can go forward. The team looks ready to come back.

A truck driver is distracted by eating a hamburger and hits….what might have been a werewolf. The wolf/person is watching from the road as the driver looks at some fur on the road. I have no idea who or what this was supposed to be about and thought it was some weird commercial.

Sha Samuels runs into Mark Coffey for an exchange of insults before their match next week.

Die Familie again runs into A-Kid and stares at him. Charlie Dempsey calls the other two off and asks if A-Kid has something to say to him. A-Kid thought Dempsey was better than that and Dempsey says maybe.

Andy Shepherd brings out Meiko Satomura to honor her career. First up, we see a video on her title reign and Andy hands her a bouquet of flowers. Satomura says thank you but Isla Dawn pops up (with the camera going a bit wacky, like it’s in a weird world) to say she is distressed over not receiving an invite.

She thanks Satomura for giving us something to desire but now she needs her final trophy. At the moment, Satomura possesses it, so Satomura says if she wants a title shot, all she has to do is ask. Dawn says she takes things and kicks Satomura in the head. Then she takes and eats the flowers. So she’s Maleficent with a taste for flowers?

Sam Gradwell tells himself to get over having his hair being shaved but what gets to him is people, like his son, asking what happened to his mohawk. He can get over Kenny Williams doing that, but he doesn’t think Williams can get over what Gradwell is going to do to him.

We look back at Nathan Frazer challenging Ilja Dragunov for the NXT UK Title.

Ilja Dragunov accepts the challenge, even though he had to win a battle royal just to get a title shot. Then he failed, because he wasn’t ready yet. He knows how good Frazer is, but he also knows how great he can be. Frazer isn’t ready, but he’ll take his first step.

Here’s what’s coming next week.

Tag Team Titles: Moustache Mountain vs. Oliver Carter/Ashton Smith

Moustache Mountain is defending. Bate and Smith lock it up to start with Smith having to bail to the corner to escape a takedown attempt. Carter comes in and gets taken to the mat as well but manages to pull Bate into an armbar. That’s broken up and Bate takes him down, allowing Seven to come in for an assisted twisting moonsault. Carter is able to forearm him into the corner and there’s an armdrag into an armbar.

Smith comes back in and gets chopped/slammed, allowing Seven to drop a leg for two. It’s back to Bate to grind away on a headlock before unloading with forearms to both of them. Smith gets in a shot of his own though and brings in Carter, whose springboard…is pulled out of the air. Bate swings him around to knock Smith down as well but it makes Bate dizzy too. That means Carter can kick Bate in the head before a hurricanrana out of the corner sends him flying.

Carter even knocks Seven off the apron before he can do anything about it but Bate is back up with a suplex. The running shooting star press looks to set up the Tyler Driver 97 but Carter backdrops his way out. Bate settles for the rebound lariat and it’s back to Seven, leaving Bate to knock Smith off the apron. Something like Private Party’s Silly String into a tornado DDT lets Carter hit a springboard moonsault for two of his own and Seven is in trouble.

Seven sends Carter outside though and hits the Seven Star Lariat on Smith. Emerald Flosion gets two with Carter having to make a save. Bate comes back in so Smith Blue Thunder Bombs him for two of his own. An assisted moonsault (how they won the tournament) gets two on Bate and Carter is down too. A Silly String moonsault is cut off by Seven so Smith goes with a top rope Rough Ryder for two on Bate.

One heck of a Doomsday cutter drops Bate again but this time it’s Seven making the save. Everyone is down for a much needed breather Smith knocks Seven’s right hand back into Bate but Seven and Carter are knocked outside. That leaves Smith to hit a great superkick on Bate but Bop and Bang into an enziguri knock Smith silly. Bate knocks Smith silly with a left hand and covers, with Smith getting his foot on the ropes….but Seven shoves it off so Bate (who didn’t seem to see what Seven did) can retain the titles at 13:12.

Rating: B. Action packed fight here as Moustache Mountain was stretched to their breaking point here, with Seven having to tease a bit of a turn to keep the titles. Smith and Carter were keeping up from these two every step of the way and that was an awesome thing to see. Pretty great main event here and I’m not sure who is going to be able to take the titles, but at least it will be fun to watch people try.

Overall Rating: B-. As tends to be the case, the main event carried this show as the other two matches were fairly skippable. The main event was worth seeing though and it made the show feel important. I’m curious to see where some of these stories are going and then you can expect some good matches to blow the stories off. Now just get some kind of a major show scheduled and we could get somewhere special. For now though, it just continues to be the best weekly WWE show.

Results
Amale b. Xia Brookside – Hope Breaker
Rohan Raja b. Danny Jones – Jumping Downward Spiral
Moustache Mountain b. Ashton Smith/Oliver Carter – Left hand to Smith

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.